


Handle of Things: Part I

by OiBoiHumerus



Series: OiBoiHumerus's TF2 Zombie Apocalypse AU [2]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Albeit very descriptive, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Autistic Character, Because of potential spoilers, Blood and Gore, Content warnings will be placed in a link to a Google Doc, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Is that right?, It contains the content warnings and the fic in its editing stage, Slow Burn, So it's there if you need it, Which is why I didn't put them in this work here, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OiBoiHumerus/pseuds/OiBoiHumerus
Summary: It's an apocalypse. Nobody knows how it started, and nobody knows how it got this bad. But for now, the mercenaries at Teufort seem to have a pretty good handle of things, even when they aren't ideal.
Relationships: Engineer/Sniper (Team Fortress 2)
Series: OiBoiHumerus's TF2 Zombie Apocalypse AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030614
Comments: 16
Kudos: 28





	1. Unimpressive

**Author's Note:**

> **Content warning link, as promised:**   
>  [ "Handle of Things" by OiBoiHumerus on Google Docs (Content Warnings/Editing Stage Edition) ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C2g49psNeihtXzIjOr6vxpa9C8NJVJlI8KlmVDo9lUg/edit#heading=h.dpd629qki0lw)
> 
> yee I added one tag to this series to show an implementation of headcanons  
> guess who
> 
> _Check out this series' notes on how I write this work and how to understand the chapter titles that were chosen!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **unimpressive** _adj._ not tending to impress the mind or emotions, nor eliciting wonder or admiration

"Yo, Sniper, got any aces?"

"Go fish."

Begrudgingly, Scout took yet  _ another _ card from the fishing pile. He had many different cards and no pairs.

"Oh wait,  _ finally _ !"

Scout shuffled through his hand to find an ace that he was forced to stash, then pulled it out and united it with the ace he had just received from the pile.

Spy walked in on Scout and Sniper's game, instantly cocking a brow at the sight of Scout's hand.

" _ Impressive _ ," the masked man snarked.

"I'm not bad at this, I swear! I'm just not havin' the best of luck today..."

"Sure, mate," Sniper grinned to himself. "Do you have any threes?"

Scout filed through his hand again, finding the three in his hand and giving it to Sniper.

"Have fun with your little game, then."

And with that, Spy disappeared from the room.

"Ya know, Snipes, we really oughta teach ya more card games."

"Nah, that's alright." Sniper set down his hand, shuffling aside and stretching his  _ long and lanky _ legs. "I should probably... check on my owl or something."

"Okay. Good game."

"Good game."

Sniper helped Scout clean up the cards.

"You know what else, Snipes?"

Sniper's gaze did not avert from the cards scattered on the floor. "Yeah?"

"You should hang out with the rest of us more often. Crap, we're livin' in a frickin' apocalypse; who knows how long this'll last?"

Sighing, Sniper picked up the rest of the cards and handed them to Scout, who put them back in the case.

"Maybe. I'm gonna go, now. Hoots is probably getting stir-crazy or something."

"Okay. See you around, man."

"Yeah."

Sniper left the living room and began making his way towards the garage. Along the way, he started thinking about how much had changed since this all began.

He was slowly accustoming himself to the company of other mercenaries (besides Engineer, who was his very best friend). He could sit in less isolated spaces for longer periods of time. His camper, nonetheless, was parked in the garage if he needed it. Which he did. Hoots lived there.

And that "lived" was very much a past-tense thing.

Sniper was greeted with his owl, who lay on the ground with a bullet wound in his head. Next to him lay Archimedes, in a similar state, but seemingly already turned zombie at the time of the incident, which Sniper was not present for.

Sniper could only wish that he didn't know what had happened as he knelt down next to the scene, a burning sadness agonizing him from the inside.


	2. Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **problem** _n._  
>  1\. a question proposed for solution  
> 2\. a perplexing or difficult matter, person, etc.

Engineer wandered through the facility, quietly cursing to himself.

He stumbled upon the living room and peered through the doorway. Scout was putting a deck of cards back in its storage compartment.

"Hey, Scout, you wouldn't've happened to see Sniper pass by, would'ja?"

"Actually, we were just playin' cards earlier, but then he saw how I was wi-  _ losing _ and so he bailed. Said he should go check on Hoots or something."

A paranoid expression dawned upon Engie's face. "Damnit... Thanks, Scout!"

Scout watched as Engie bolted from the doorway. Seconds after, Medic also made a mad dash across the hall, in the direction Engie went. He carried a box and some cleaning supplies.

This was enough to grab Scout's attention, so he began to make his way to the garage as well.

As soon as he arrived, Scout's eyes beheld the scene: a zombified Archimedes and a bitten Sir Hootsalot, both with bullet strikes to their heads.

Medic was busy cleaning up the mess. Further away, Engie attempted to console Sniper.

The man with a van seemed to be entirely stoic, if the dark and devastated look on his face was anything to go by. He forcefully held back tears as his eyes raced around the situation, although mostly focused on the late Sir Hootsalot.

Finally, Sniper murmured a brief goodbye before walking away. He slipped past Scout and then dashed from the garage to nobody-knows-where-in-the-base-Sniper-went.

Scout glanced at the scene once more.

"What the hell just happened?" Scout asked, his normally chipper tone faded.

"Archimedes was infected," Medic replied. "The first thing he did after turning was target Hoots."

"And he... got 'im?"

"Yeah. We had to do what we had to do," Engie added. "The reality of it is... Sniper's owl had been bitten and was gonna go real quick. Sniper gets that, I trust that he understands, even though he's upset. He just needs some time."

"Some time to recover?"

"Yeah. Sniper was real close to Hoots. That owl meant a lot to 'im. Even saw how much Hoots helped him get through some harder days."

"Like that one time when Sniper was having a rough go of it and when he joined us for dinner... that owl was perched on his shoulder and wouldn't leave him?"

"Yeah."

An awkward silence filled the room. Scout finally realized how much Hoots meant to Sniper, and probably how much Archimedes meant to Medic.

"Hey, Medic, didn't you have to get Archimedes out of my chest eventually?"

"Yes," Medic replied, putting Hoots and Archimedes in the box. Then he picked up a rag and a bottle of some biohazard cleanser and began cleaning up the remaining mess.

"Do you miss him, Doc?"

"I do, but I knew this was bound to happen anyways. Archimedes always had a tendency of being in places where he didn't belong." Medic slightly smiled to himself. "Birds."

Scout was almost shocked at how casually Medic was taking this. Alas, that was to be expected of him.

"I can, uh, go check on Snipes, if ya want," Scout said.

"While I appreciate it," Engie began, "I think it's best that we just leave Sniper alone for now. I reckon he needs a minute, maybe even a long while. Don't worry about it too much, okay?"

"Alright, I'll give him space." Scout gazed about the scene one last time. "You'll check on him later, right?"

"Yeah."

Medic picked up the box and cleaning supplies. "I'm sure that Sniper will be able to recover from this. Even if it takes a very long time. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Yeah, go ahead." Scout stepped out of the doorway so that Medic could leave the garage. It was most likely that he'd at least be experimenting on Archimedes to find out if there was some kind of cure to the zombie illness.

"You take care of yourself, okay, Scout?"

"Yeah. You, too."

And with that, Scout left the garage.


	3. Watchful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **watchful** _adj._ watching closely; vigilant; alert

Scout headed over to Sniper's room. In one hand, a water bottle. Under the same arm, a tissue box.

The super slugger knew full well that Engie didn't want him going to Sniper's room, since Sniper probably needed a moment, but it could not be helped.

Slowly, Scout approached Sniper's door, gently tapping it with the back of his hand.

Scout heard a sigh, some shifting around, and very faint footsteps just before the door opened slightly.

Sniper peered out from a small gap that opening the door had created, his eyes a little puffy and his face stained with tears. His hair was a bit ruffled, too.

"What?" Sniper mumbled in a sore voice. He sniffled.

"I just want you to know that, uh..." Scout paused, thinking of exactly what to say. "If you ever wanna talk... about Hoots, or something else... I'm here, okay?"

Scout handed the water bottle and tissues over to Sniper, who accepted scout's offerings.

Sniper nodded. "I'll think about it, thanks."

Scout peered past the doorway. "May I?"

"Maybe later."

"Okay. See ya, Snipes."

"See ya."

They tentatively waved to each other before Scout turned and left, while Sniper slid back into his room, closing the door behind him.

Scout made a right turn down the hallway and was met with Engie, who had a stern look on his face and his arms folded.

"What did I tell ya?"

"Leave Snipes alone? Look, I know. I didn't listen, and I'm sorry."

"Well, you did good. I was just afraid that you would've been going about it the wrong way when you visited him, that's all."

"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Thanks for lookin' out for him."


	4. Compassion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **compassion** _n._ deep sympathy, pity

That afternoon's incident only made dinner more solemn and awkward. Sniper had not joined in at dinner, preferring to hide out in his room for the time being.

This left the eight other mercenaries to participate in the most hushed and socially obliged small talk there ever was. And it was very,  _ very _ uncomfortable.

That is, until Medic finally spoke up with something important.

"The vents are no longer safe," he said. "I figured out that Archimedes flew outside through the vents and got infected. They are in a hazardous condition at the moment."

"We could use more fencing," Engie replied. "Make them less open so the zombies can't get through."

"And how would you do that?" Spy remarked. "I assume all of the hardware stores are not open for business, not to mention that we are not to leave this base while this situation is happening."

"I can handcraft 'em. I've got all sorts of scrap metal lyin' around. Shouldn't take too long." Engie thought for a little bit. "I could actually get goin' on that right now. See ya 'round."

Engie got up from the table, putting his empty and untouched dishware back where it belonged. Then, he went to his workspace room.

Going over to the scrap metal pile, Engie got right to work.

:/~/:

A few hours into his work, Engie heard a knock at the door.

"Kinda busy!"

"It's me, Truckie," said a faint voice.

"Come on in, then."

Sniper poked his head through the door. "Did you have dinner yet?"

"No, why?"

"I don't wanna be in the mess hall with anyone else right now."

Sniper noticed a bunch of grates scattered around the room. They appeared to be big enough to cover quite a few of the vent openings scattered throughout the base.

"Or I could help you out. Need any help?"

"Nah, I'm almost done, and then I'm gonna get this lil' bot here to install 'em."

Engie pointed to a small robot with extendable arms.

"Neat," was all Sniper could contribute to the conversation.

"You're alright, yeah?" Engie said, concerned.

"Yeah," Sniper responded.

To Engie, Sniper didn't sound okay.

Engie finished the last grate, then sent the installer robot on its merry way.

He then met up with Sniper at the doorway.

"Need a hug?"

"I'm alright," Sniper declined. "Thanks-"

"I'm gonna hug."

"Okay."

So Engie gave Sniper a hug.

At first, Sniper half-hugged back. Then Engie's embrace tightened, which was comforting to the taller man.

That did it. Sniper couldn't hold back any more tears. He didn't even know that he had any more tears to hold back after that afternoon.

Sniper hugged Engie as tight as he could. He started to cry a little, but couldn't help the pain that he was feeling and began to sob instead.

He buried his face into Engie's shoulder, staining Engie's shirt with tears, missing his little owl, gone too soon because of a mischievous dove and a stupid bloody zombie plague.

He hated it. He hated seeing the same halls. He hated breathing the same air. He hated not being able to call his parents- no, they'd been gone for over a year now, so even if he could use the phone, there'd be nobody to call.

Hoots was like family to him, and now it felt like he had no family at all.

Sniper's cries eventually died down, leaving the room with a profound silence, Engie's shirt with a puddle of tears (and possibly a snot stain), and Sniper with a newfound sense of relief.

Sniper released himself from Engie's embrace, wiping his tears with the collar of his own shirt.

He sniffled. "Thanks."   
  
"No problem."


	5. Afar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **afar** _adj._ at or to a distance  
> (from afar) from a distance

Although it was very late, Engie and Sniper sat in the mess hall, eating what was assumed to be a very sad mac-n-cheese, like the kind one would find in a box on a shelf at a supermarket.

Sniper didn't mind it, though. After two long and solid sessions with tears, while skipping dinner the second time around, Sniper was indifferent to the fact that the macaroni probably had many kinds of strange and hard-to-pronounce ingredients in it. He was hungry and exhausted and didn't have much care left in him about the alleged realness of food.

Engie knew that Sniper's mind was doing one of two things at the moment. His brain was either too tired to think, or still had several thoughts racing by. Possibly both tired and racing.

So it was for the best, having a late dinner in silence, save for a "could you pass me a napkin" before turning back to silence.

The room was fairly quiet then.

That is, until they heard a decloaking sound, accompanied by Spy appearing in front of them.

Sniper tensed up, wishing that he, too, could just become invisible. Except he'd sneak out of this situation.

"Hello, Engineer. Sniper."

"Hey, that was a bit…  _ spooky _ , as Sniper would say if he was in the mood for puns. Right, Camper?"

Sniper nodded, cracking a small smile. "Because Spook is spooky."

"Yeah!"

"I like that. I've never heard that pun before."

"I thought you'd like it."

Spy coughed to get their attention.   
  
"Oh, right. What brings ya here, Spy?"

"I am checking on the two of you. I heard  _ very _ dramatic sobbing from afar, in your workshop."

Sniper's small grin and slightly elevated mood faded.

"Piss off," Sniper muttered.

"Sniper," Engie reprimanded, then directed his attention to Spy. "Try to make this brief, alright?"

"I'm just making sure that everyone is okay."

"That's fine."

"And Sniper…"

Sniper looked up from his meal, but did not say anything.

A kinder, more sincere expression appeared upon Spy's face. "My apologies… about your owl. He was a good owl, always being there for you and allowing you to get through some of life's harshness. He will be missed."

Sniper nodded, looking back at the mac-n-cheese. "Thanks."

"I will not be far if you need anything."

"Okay."

"Thanks, Spy," Engie nodded.

Spy nodded in return before leaving the mess hall.

Sniper got up, walked over to the sink, and then put his dishes in the sink.

"I'm going to my room." Sniper mumbled.

"Okay. Good night, Sniper."

"Good night, Truckie."


	6. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **distance** _n._  
>  1\. being separated in space or time; remoteness  
> 2\. a gap, space, or interval between two points in space or time  
> 3\. a remoteness in behavior, reserve  
> 4\. a faraway place

One of the good things about being cooped up in the RED base was that there was finally plenty of time to go explore its various obscure and rarely-used rooms.

Since Engie didn't have anything else he could be doing, he decided that it would be a good idea to go do that.

The basement was rarely used, save for the two freezer rooms that contained edible frozen goods and mysterious biological organs, respectively. Across the hall from that was an underused shooting range where Engie, not suspecting anyone to be in the basement at all, could hear an arrow being drawn, released, and then the signature… plunk of an arrow hitting a concrete wall, followed by an iconic utterance of the word "piss."

Engie slowly opened the door to the shooting range, slightly standing in the gap left by the door, ajar.

Not surprisingly, Sniper had found himself in the shooting range, practicing with his huntsman. Standing tall and remaining focused, he carefully drew back his bow, aiming at the farthest target in the back. He breathed steadily, yet quietly, as he released the string.

Bullseye.

Sniper set down his bow and went to retrieve his arrows from the poor, mutilated targets and walls and floor.

Engie noticed the shots that Sniper had made. That last one was the only shot to land on the desired target, let alone on a direct bullseye.

"Your aim's getting better," Engie said.

Sniper nearly jumped at the sudden speech, almost dropping his arrows in the process.

"Mhm." Sniper plucked the singular perfect arrow shot from the target in the very back.

"And from quite a distance, too. Have you been coming down here to practice often, Snipie?"

Sniper smirked at the nickname.  _ Snipie. _

"Nah," he replied. "I just thought I could practice some headshots today. Y'know, with the fact that there could be zombies in Teufort now."

"Well, we're pretty good at handling these kinds of things, so I don't see a reason for you to be worryin'--"

"Engineer! We're probably the only people left in this country who aren't zombies. We've bloody targets on our backs now, and I can't just…"

Sniper paused. This was a rant with half the words missing. His thought remained incomplete.

Sighing, Sniper bit his lip. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Sniper. I guess this whole zombie thing's had everyone on edge, so…" Engie looked into Sniper's eyes. There were bags under them. Granted, there usually were, but more so now than usual. "Jeez, Sniper, how much sleep did you get last night?"

"I can't remember. Must've gone to bed at around 1, didn't sleep until 2, and then woke up at 4."

"Did you try going back to sleep?"

"Couldn't," Sniper replied. "So I've been down here since 5."

Engie looked at the nearest clock in the room. Almost 12.

"Didn't eat breakfast, did'ja?"

Sniper made no kind of response.

"Sniper…"

"I can handle myself."

Sniper yawned, unwittingly disproving his point.

"Let's get you a snack and then  _ back to bed _ ."

Sniper couldn't argue, even if he wanted to. All he could do was nod as he put his huntsman away, and then follow Engie to the mess hall.

Everyone was already eating lunch, but they stopped to stare at him when he entered the room.

"Good morning," he mumbled.

Sniper opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a granola.

"Where were you this morning, Sniper?" Spy asked.

Spy had only grabbed Sniper's attention with his name, proven to be so by the way Sniper slightly turned his head and blankly looked in Spy's general direction.

"What?" he said, unwrapping the granola.

"Where were you?"

"Basement. Shooting range down there."

Sniper left the mess hall.

"He looks more dead every day," Spy wittingly remarked, sipping some water from a wine glass. As if he could drink from a generic glass.

"Ya mean deader," Engie tried to retort.

Spy spewed some water. "... _ Merde. _ "

:/~/:

Sniper threw an empty granola wrapper into the trash can.

For the past fifteen minutes, he'd been rather confused. And tired. He was thinking a lot about what had happened these past few days, and thus his brain had taken him to faraway places when all he wanted to do was sit in his room, have himself a granola, and then try and go back to bed.

Alas, it was of no use to try and go back to bed. His brain was already far away, stumbling into the past. Staying in his parents' home after they had passed, finding his biological parents and learning two new things about himself. One being that he wasn't  _ really _ Australian, and the other being how much he had taken his  _ real _ parents, the people who actually raised him in a loving environment, for granted. So eager to find his birth parents, only to find out that they really… wouldn't have been parents to him at all, based on how they acted.

Realizing he was too awake now to try and simply go to bed, and with a strong feeling of guilt that he never knew he had sooner, Sniper headed over to his desk and found some pen and paper. Maybe some writing would help him. Not anything specific. Just enough to wind down his mind.


	7. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **alone** _adj._  
>  1\. apart from anything or anyone else  
> 2\. without any other person

After a while of sitting awkwardly and accidentally roasting the Spy, Engie sat in the mess hall with Spy, Scout, and Medic. Having not eaten since he got there, Engie went to the fridge, got leftovers, and then returned to the table.

Finally, a few minutes had passed, and Spy had recovered enough to speak up.

"You've been helping the Sniper a lot lately," Spy said. "However, these are usually the times that he would want to leave you alone."

"Just being a friend, that's all."

"I wanna be his friend," Scout said.

"You're already being a good friend after you checked on him," Engie replied.

"And that is as close to friendship with the Sniper as you will get, Scout," Spy remarked. "Sniper is very… aloof. It is most likely that you will get no further than small talk."

"You don't know that, Spy. Snipes used to avoid me like the plague, and now he has one match of Go Fish with me under his belt," Scout said.

Scout continued by thinking for a minute before speaking up again. "His parents moved on and his owl joined them yesterday. He needs us now more than ever, Spy."

Spy raised his eyebrows in surprise.  _ Scout rarely takes the time to construct well-thought out things to say. _

"I will take that into consideration. Thank you," Spy said.


	8. Heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **heat** _n._ the quality of being hot; hotness, or the perception of this

Sniper awoke in a pool of his own sweat. At first, he didn't know why, but then peeling off a few blankets made him realize that he had fallen asleep in his sweater. His bedroom benefitted from the RED Base's heating system the most, and it must've been on full blast while he had been asleep.

For Sniper, this would be completely fine. Sure, as the weather got chillier, Sniper would find it normal to layer up any time he was in a place that was abnormally cold for what he was used to, and the heater was usually one of his best friends.

In his several years at Teufort, though, Sniper had accustomed himself to the various climates of the various battlegrounds he's been to, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, to an eerily unfamiliar degree.

Shifting more to get out of bed, Sniper felt a paper crumple by his feet. Instantly remembering that he had fallen asleep while writing, Sniper retrieved the paper from the depths of the bedsheets.

It was not until he picked up the letter than Engie burst into his room, closing and locking the door behind him, that Sniper knew something really bad was happening in the base.

Rapidly, Engineer began rummaging through Sniper's things, most likely in search of something. Sniper had never seen Engie so panicked before, either.

Nonetheless, Sniper didn't appreciate when others went through his belongings without warning, even if it was his best friend.

"Oi!"

"Sorry, Sniper. Ya got anything you'd like to have on you at all times?"

"Almost all of my stuff is in my van. Why? What's happening?"

"We need to get out of here."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I might've miscalculated bot's programming, and it accidentally skipped a vent. Everyone else has already left the RED Base, and I damned us, but I thought you'd still be asleep and oblivious to what was going on so I'd be more damned if I left you behind, so-"

"Let's go," Sniper interrupted, fetching his kukri from underneath the bed. He then shoved the letter into his pocket before grabbing Engie by the forearm and tugging him towards the door.

"Oh- okay," Engie whispered.

"Got a gun on ya?" Sniper said, his voice hushed now.

"Yeah." Engie took his trusty pistol from its holster.

Quietly, Sniper disengaged the lock to his room. After listening for any others on base, zombie or otherwise, Sniper silently opened the door and, with Engie, headed to the garage.

His camper van was still there, as he left it, and there was a sentry nearby. A zombie had been mutilated, rendered harmless by the bullets that the little gun had fired at it.

"This one probably came from outside Mann Co.," Engie said.

Sniper nodded, beating the van with his fist from all sides. There was no sound from inside. Nothing stirred or growled. No zombies. Sniper went around the back one last time to lock the entrance to the camper, then headed around to the driver's side.

"Van's safe. Let's go," Sniper said, hopping into the driver's seat. He fastened his seatbelt. "Get in."

Engie grabbed his backpack and toolbox, then got into the passenger side of the van. He got out his Construction PDA while buckling up, then pushed a button to open the garage door.

Sniper started the van while locking its doors.

"You have everything you need?" Sniper asked.

"Yeah."

"Then we're going."

Engie nodded.

And with that, Sniper and Engineer left the RED Base, closing the doors behind them, never to return to it, never to look back.


End file.
